“Thank you very much, Madam Leader, and Chairman Becerra, thank you, and Jim Clyburn, our Assistant Leader. First let me say the Democratic Caucus is almost unanimous in the belief that the Affordable Care Act is good for our country, good for our people, that it will make affordable, quality health care available to all Americans. That is the substance of what we're talking about.

“Mr. Speaker, budget conferees are now meeting or will be meeting shortly to negotiate a budget for the remainder of this fiscal year. And they have a real opportunity to look beyond that mission and lay the groundwork for a long-term solution to our deficits that is balanced and restores certainty to our economy.

“I would ... ask the Majority Leader whether or not there is any thought about bringing to the Floor before the end of the year the immigration bill. And I would yield to my friend for the purposes of a response.”

“Mr. Speaker, this is how we ought to work. This is how the Congress ought to work with one another – all 435 of us. I don't mean that 435 are going to vote for the bill, but we have worked together on this bill.